Much is said about the need for good Running shoes, but not so much of other items of clothing. For example, him sports bra is essential. Not only because it prevents breast pain, which is very common especially in people with large breasts while running. It is also useful for improving running performance, according to a study just published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living.
In it, analyze how restraint affects from this garment to knee stiffness, a parameter that can greatly modify running performance. It may seem like a stiff knee is a bad thing, but the term in this case refers to something positive.
And, without a doubt, thanks to this research it has been seen that the sports bras More effective are key to improving that stiffness and, with it, increasing performance in the race. This shows that not everything is good shoes or clothes that breathe. The sports bra is a very important piece of clothing, for more reasons than we thought.
What is knee stiffness?
Knee stiffness is a parameter that refers to the resistance to deformation due to force. It is used in biomechanics to analyze how the lower body responds to landing during cyclical movements such as running and jumping.
Besides, as explained in a study published in 2021“vertical leg and joint stiffness provides a useful model for investigating storage and release of potential elastic energy through the musculotendinous unit in the stretch-shorten cycle”, and can also provide information on sports performance. Precisely for this reason it has been used in this other study to analyze how the use of a good sports bra affects performance. And it’s clear that breast support is key to optimizing knee stiffness.
The importance of a good sports bra
The study involved 12 sports runners, with cup B, C or Dinformed by themselves. They all had to do 3 minute runs on a treadmill. In addition, they were asked to do it in three different ways. These were with a High or low support or bare-chested sports bra.
On the other hand, 10 cameras were placed and their movements were measured by individual retroreflective markers placed on different parts of their bodies. Specifically, special emphasis was placed on the movement of the breasts and the knee jointso that a relationship between the two could be found.
Thus, they concluded that, compared to the bare torso, which served as a control, a low-support sports bra increased knee stiffness by 2% and a high-support one increased it by 5%. From all this it is calculated that the performance with a good sports bra increases by 7%.
In short, according to these scientists, even more effort should be put into the design of sports bras. Not just for sore breasts; which, as explained in a statement, affects the 72% of female runners. Also to increase performance during the race. Reasons abound.